Turning Talk into Policy: India Crafts Next-Gen SEP Ecosystem

New Delhi, 24 April 2025: The Centre of Law and Critical Emerging Technologies at ASIA, in collaboration with the Office of the Controller General of Patents, Designs and Trademarks and Shree Guru Gobind Singh Tricentenary University, hosted a two-day Colloquia on Progress and Policy roundtable on Standard Essential Patents (SEPs) in Emerging Technologies: (Expanding the Scope Beyond Telecom Sector).The colloquium highlighted India’s changing strategy towards SEPs, broadening the discussion beyond the telecommunication sector to new sectors like electric vehicles (EVs), clean energy technologies (CETs), artificial intelligence (AI), and fintech.

 The roundtable marked a crucial point in India’s intellectual property discourse. Discussion ranged from enforcement to inclusive licensing, national policy design, and India’s contribution towards global standard-setting frameworks. The sessions brought to the fore how technologies such as AI devices, battery-swapping technology, and digital financial platforms are now at the core of SEP-related innovation and dispute.

What made the colloquium stand out was its solution-oriented focus on four critical areas:

Establishing a National SEP Registry:

Speakers highlighted the necessity of a transparent, centralized registry to deal with information asymmetry. Such a system would help clarify enforceable SEPs in India, reduce royalty conflicts, and enable implementers to make more informed decisions, particularly in sectors dominated by foreign rights holders.

Overhauling Dispute Resolution Mechanisms:

Legal experts and industry stakeholders widely supported the establishment of an expert SEP tribunal with fixed timelines, limited costs, and a combination. The current litigation and arbitration models, participants noted, are too time-consuming and unpredictable for rapidly evolving industries.

Boosting India’s Voice in Global Standard-Setting:

India’s limited engagement in international Standard Setting Organizations (SSOs) such as 3GPP and ETSI was a recurring issue. Panelists urged a focused government push to help domestic companies and universities to play a proactive role in global standards setting that standards that determine the direction of new technologies.

Empowering Indian Innovators through Sovereign SEP Assertion:

Several speakers advocated for an Indian-led patent pool or sovereign licensing platform to monetize under-utilised SEPs from public institutions, SMEs, and startups. This would offer a counterbalance to dominant global pools and reduce dependency on foreign licensing regimes.

Delivering the keynote, Professor Unnat P. Pandit urged India to build a SEP regime marked by “sectoral agility, economic fairness, and international assertiveness.” The current global norms, he argued, must be adapted to Indian market realities, where scale and affordability drive adoption.

Amogh Dev Rai, Director, ASIA Research, remarked, “This discussion was a critical step in rethinking India’s SEP governance. It showed how we can make IP rules fairer and more functional for sectors like EVs and AI.”

The roundtable concluded with a shared understanding: India cannot remain a passive user of global IP norms. It must co-author the rules that govern emerging technologies. And to do that, the country must translate roundtable insights into actionable within legal, economic, and institutional frameworks.